Lords of Honor (70 page)

Owen sighed and continued, “
This morning, Grace and I
pieced together that her father wanted her to marry Lord Marston
.
We wrote to one another while I was gone, but neither one of us received the other’s letters
.
We believe her father kept them from us
.
There
was something
very important
Grace needed
to tell me
in her letters
. She was with child
.
She carried m
y child, Libby
.
Little
Alice is mine
;
m
y daughter
.
I did not know of this until today
.
When I returned from Italy, I thought
I
was
betrayed, and because
Grace
never received answers to her letters she thought I had forsaken her
.
I wanted you to hear this from me, Pet, and not someone else
at a later time
.”

Libby rose and went to Owen
.
Smiling brightly, she raised up on her toes
to
kiss his cheek
.
“I am an aunt
.
And you are a father, Owen!”

Owen smiled back at her
.
“Yes, Pet
.
But let’s keep it to ourselves for awhile
.
I, uh, I intend to ask for Grace’s hand – but not until I have Alice back
.
I do not wish to break Grace’s heart twice if something should happen in London
.
I
n any case
, I feel
she is unable to make any decision until her daughter is back where she belongs.”

“So you don’t want me to tell the ladies.”

“That’s
correct
.”

“Owen, may I tell Micah
?
I do not want to keep anything from my husband
.”

“Of course you
may t
ell your husband, p
et
.
He is
family now
.
Come
, Libby
.
Come
with me and
s
ee Grace.”
Owen smiled.

“Lady Marston
, h
ow good to see you.” Libby
said happily
as she entered the parlour
.
Lady Marston sat
with Rowena and Sophia.

“Congratulations on your marriage, Lady Wincanton.” Grace tried not to stare at the long, jagged scar on Libby’s cheek
.
She
moved her gaze to
Libby’s happy
,
smiling eyes instead
.

“Owen t
old me Alice
was taken
.
I am so sorry
.
Y
ou must be beside yourself with worry.” Libby reached out to her
and took her hands in hers
.
“Owen says he will get her back
.
We must believe he will
.”
Libby squeezed Grace’s hand
s
reassuringly.

Grace
nodded
.
She
turned
to
regard
Owen.
“I have to believe he will.”

“Owen told me you will be staying with us, and traveling to London with us, Lady Marston
.
I am happy you will be joining
our party
.
”

“Please, call me Grace, Libby
.
We have known one another all our lives.”

“Of course, Grace.”

Th
e four ladies sat down to tea, while Owen sought out Harry
.

Before
going
down
stairs
to dinner,
Owen
stopped in to see Libby and Micah
.
Libby
grew tired
earlier
and asked to
return
to
her room
.
Already in her nightgown, s
he lay in bed with Micah.

“
I’m j
ust checking on you
both
.
If you need anything tonight just
call out
.
Matthias is in the hallway during dinner
.
We’re going over some things in the library after the ladies retire
.
I’ll probably be back up late
.
I’m certain you will be asleep when I return so I will not disturb you
.
I’ll leave you two to your privacy
.
Your dinner will be up soon, I’m certain.”

“Goodnight, Owen.”

“Goodnight, p
et
.
Micah.”

“Owen.”

The second Owen closed the door behind him, Micah gathered Libby in his arms
.
He wait
ed
for this moment
the entire
afternoon
.
He kissed
his wife
passionately
,
something he longed to do for days
.
He was
careful not to hurt her
injured
face
.
His hands moved to her bottom
.
He pulled Libby closer against hi
s hardening cock
.
His fingers
gathered
up her nightgown until it was above her waist.

“
Dinner will be here soon, Micah,
”
Libby giggled.

“I’ll hurry, sweetheart
.
We’ll take our time later
tonight
, after dinner
.
I’ve dreamed about this for days
.
I’ve missed this so much, Libby.
”

“But how can you do this without tearing your stitches
, Micah
?” she asked
with concern
.

“
I can
.
Turn around so your back is toward my chest
.
That’s it
.
Give me that wiggly little
bottom
.”
He grabbed her hips,
pull
ing
her against
his hard length
.
He s
miled as she giggled.

Micah massaged her until he was certain she was ready for him
.
She was already wet
.
He made her wetter
.
He entered her, groaning as he did
.
God he missed making love to Libby
.
She was so hot
.
So wet
.
He was sore, so he moved slowly at first
.
His fingers moved down
across
Libby’s belly
and lower
to her sensitive nub
.
She
moved with him, pushing her hips back when he thrust to take him more deeply
.
Not wanting to be interrupted
by their
dinner
being delivered
before
they finished
, he quickened his pace
.
He came quickly
, and brought his wife over the edge with him
.

“Did you hurt yourself
?”
Libby turned back to face her husband
.
She placed a sweet kiss to his lips.

“No
,
I don’t think so
.
But I am sore
.”
Micah gathered her in his arms once again
.
“Sorry that was so quick, sweetheart
.
I’ve missed making love to you
.
After dinner we’ll take our time
.
I think maybe you’ll have to be on top
.”
He brushed
f
eathery kisses against her lips
then
slanted his mouth over hers to
kiss her more deeply.

“I’ve missed it too
, Micah.”

A knock sounded on the door
.

“Perfect timing
.
There’s dinner
.”
Micah kissed her temple
.
He called
.
“Come in.”

It was midnight when Owen made his way to Micah’s chamber
where he would sleep
tonight
.
H
e
would leave
with Gabriel
for London
the next morning
.
H
HH
e noted light
coming from
beneath the door of Grace’s room
.
Lady Glaston put her
in a room close
to Owen so he could be near in case the Brown Coats attacked again
.
Owen decided to pass by
.
He stopped and turned
when he heard what sounded like a sob beyond her door.

He knocked
softly
.
“Grace, are you well?”

The door clicked open
.
“I-I, the nights are the hardest
for me, Owen
.
Alice doesn’t like the dark and I wonder…” Grace choked on another sob
.
“I hope she is not frightened
.
She doesn’t even have her dolly she slept with.”
She held a rag doll in one hand
.

“Grace.” Owen breathed as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him
.
He reached out
and
squeezed her arm
.
“I know it’s hard, Grace
.
You’ve got to believe we’ll get her back
.”
He looked into her eyes
.
Warm, liquid brown
.

“I-I want to, Owen
.
You’re the only hope I have…
” 
Tears rolled
down
her cheeks
.
“I couldn’t bear it, Owen, if anything happened to Alice
.
I couldn’t go on living without my baby.”

Grace covered her face with her hands
.
She m
oaned softly
.

Owen reached out,
and quickly
enfolded her in
the circle of
his arms
.
Grace clutched at his lapels
.
Her shoulders shook as she gave in to her fear
.
She c
ried harder
.
Owen stroked her back
for long minutes
.
“Shh
, sweet
.
Grace
,
I’m leaving tomorrow morning for London
.
Gabriel is coming with me
.
We’re going to start
searching
for Alice.
Remember I explained to you about Gabriel’s gift
at dinner
?
He wants to try to contact Alice through you early tomorrow morning before we leave
.
We are hoping to find Alice and get her
back before
next Tuesday
.”

“I’ll go with you, Owen.” Grace looked up into Owen’s dark blue eyes
.
She swiped at her tear-stained cheek with the back of her hand.

“No
, Grace
.”
Owen kissed her forehead
.
“You’ll leave Wednesday with Micah and Libby and the others
.
It will be safer for you in a larger group
.
They might follow Gabriel and me
.
They could try to take us out before we reach London, to prevent us from arriving early
.
They have to know I will try to get my daughter
back
.”